A serious question for Chrisitans.?

Question

When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, why did God lie about what the outcome would be (Genesis 2:17,9) while the serpent told the truth (Genesis 3:5,22)?

Ok, lot's of quick answers without actually reading the question. For purposes of clarity I am using the King James version of the bible, if your translation is something other please use this:
www.biblegateway.com/passage/

How could Adam and Eve ever have sinned if God had actually created them perfect, even if they did have free will?

Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Notice it says "the day that thou eatest"

Answer 1

What is your question, really?

The serpent certainly told part of the truth, but notice that it also claimed the man & woman would not die.

Clearly an error, (at least, maybe even a lie).

I'm at a loss where you think you see God lying? Genisis 2:17 says, (my free translation), eat the fruit of this tree and you're gonna die. Doesn't say that they'd die that day, just if they ate, they'd be certain to die.

Seems accurate, men die now, as do woman.

Edit: If you're really curious, try a modern english translation of the Bible, (NASV is a much more literal current translation, also available at biblegateway.com)

Lots of folk believe the King James is the only authorized version of the Bible, my question is, do you Really think Jesus spoke King James english?

You need to define "sin" & "perfect"

Free will translates into the ability to be imperfect, (make my wishes more important than God's wishes), e.g. "Sin"

Without free will, we couldn't sin, turn from God.....free will is the ability to make choices, good or bad/

So, man was perfect, (without sin, in full relationship with God), and made a bad choice, (removed himself from full relationship with God), need restoration, (Jesus), to resume relationship with God

OK?

Answer 2

When Adam and Eve sinned they did as it were pull the plug and they did begin to die, when mankind sinned they lost there spiritual connection to God and the body followed that choice, satan tempted them to eat the tree of the knowledge of good "AND" evil, satan is a good example of that, he said they would get a knowledge better than what God had given them as if God was holding something back and He was, the thing God was holding back is He could see the results of mankinds sin and knew what they would go through and was intending to spare them that because the natural results of sin, of pulling as it were that plug from the wall is death, God does not always preform a sentence right then, the world was doomed when the flood story in Gen.6 when the door of that ark was closed in Gen.7:10 it was seven days after God had told them what would happen before it really hit just because God says something is going to happen it does not mean always right then. satan tells part truths [good AND evil] and thats a dangerous if someone poisions with just a drop how much is poisioned, find out what God really says free bible lessons www.itiswritten.com OR www.amazingfacts.org God bless talk to me also [e-mail]

Answer 3

The way you write the scripture references confuses me a bit but I assume you're refering first to Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

and then; Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

I believe that God was referring to their eventual physical death when he told them that they would die. He didn't mean that they would drop dead that instant.

Satan on the other hand told a sort of backhanded truth. He made it sound like it was no big deal when it actually was a very, very big deal. Satan is very good at using partial truths to deceive.

I'm not theologian but that's my take on it all.

Answer 4

God didn't lie, and what the serpent said would only come to pass if Adam and Eve disobeyed God. God did not say WHEN Adam and Eve would die, but if you read on into chapter 3, specifically verses 16-19, it becomes clear that their earthly lives will end at some point:

16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."

Answer 5

The day that you can even begin
to grasp the meaning of
LOVE, WISDOM, POWER, and JUSTICE,
in the way that God does,
is the day that you can begin to publicly question Him.
Go and learn what you care about before you talk about it.
You'll soon find out that God's day
is as one thousand years to us.
That in his Wisdom, He knew all that He had to do in order for us to get back what He wants us to have, happy and real life and will rid us of evil and pain and even death and stupidities of all sorts once and for all. Can you even begin to imagine that? Well, if not, don't hold it against God for knowing how to do just that and for us to believe that He can surely do whatever it is that He has to do. As for the ones who claim the bible is so full of contradiction, I would like to point out that I for one have been reading this book since I was a toddler and even then, the only contradictions that it had was with the leaders of Christendom, not with God's people... I challenge anyone on earth to back up such lies with proofs... 'cause it's just not true. Anymore than what you say here is true... Let all men be proved a liar but God to be telling the truth... And the buck, as they say, stops there...

Answer 6

Firstly, God never lies and He did not lie even then. If you read the creation account then it is very clear that God never wanted "physical" death for his creatures (Adam and Eve). In Genesis 3:2, God made it very clear that if Adam and Eve ate the fruit from the middle of the tree then they would die. This was physical death (not to happen immediately but later on) and spiritual death (ie becoming sinful, getting disconnected from God and creating disharmony in the relationship) which did happen later on. Satan lied to them because he says in verse 4 that they will not die. It is as simple as that. May God bless you and reveal his unchangeable, undeniable truth to you.

Answer 7

God didn't lie, In

Gen 2:17 "but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

and in

Gen 3:5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Gen 3:22 "And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

What I want to emphasize is that God said that you would die if you eat it (2:17) And now in 3:22 at the end it says "he must NOT be allowed to... liver forever" It also says in vairous scriptures that death comes with sin. The act of eating the fruit was the first sin. Before that Adam and Eve would have lived forever.

As far as the being like God, the only reason they are like God is because they now know the difference between good and bad, when before all they knew was good.

Answer 8

I love Serious Questions for Christians. They are usually so fun! God didn't lie, we all die. Adam and Eve were however perfect, and the aging process took a long time. The serpent lied when he said that we would become like Gods and know right from wrong, but in reality we don't. Our whole world is the coin and that dominates what is right and what is wrong. We have successfully managed to destroy our planet due to this.

Answer 9

If man did go and eat of the tree of life after eating of the knowledge of good and evil he surely would not have died as God said. However, so that the word of God would not be broken, making God a liar, God cast Adam and Eve out before they could damn themselves by partaking of the tree of life. I don't see where God lied in all of this. By partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Adam and Eve became mortal and eventually grew old and died.

Answer 10

Let's look at God's warning first: "If you eat the fruit, you will surely die." God didn't say "...You will surely die instantly" he didn't even say "You will surely die physically." No, what God said was "You will surely die." As humans we want him to add in that "instantly" becasue we are creatures accustomed to instant gratification- but the biblical author put it very eloquently when he penned the similie that a day is like a thousand years to God. To God, adam and eve did die the moment they ate the fruit- they died spiritually. But they also cursed the entire human race and destined them all to death. Adam and Eve were immortal before they ate the fruit, all their offspring would have been immortal, but after they ate the fruit... they died. The bible says that everyone who has sin will surely die, and that because they lack "original righteousness" (i.e. because of Adam's curse) everyone will inevitably sin- that's why it is so important for us to take on the redemtion of Christ- so that we will not taste death. In the light of this information, two very real deaths that occured after Adam and Eve ate the fruit, it should be very clear that God did, in fact, tell the truth.


So how then should we look at the sepent's warning? Well, if you think it is truth... if follows that you have a God complex. For the serpent promised Eve that she would "be like God"... but after she ate was she omnipotent? Did she know all things? Did she have the power of creation? No. Eve was not like God after she at the fruit. She ate it, and then experienced a wave of shame. Was that God-like? God entered the garden, and she hid- was that a behavior a person "just like God" should exhibit? If she "knew everything" like the serpent told her she would, why didn't she leave the garden before God came back?

Why? Becasue the serpent lied to Eve. the only thing she gained was a loss of innocence and happiness. God said she would die: die to him spiritually, die to the joy of eden, grow old and die physically. Satan promised her knowledge, but the only knowledge she gained was the knowledge of how painful the world could be and how stupid her mistake was.